The Way I Want You Tonight
by antiassasinguy
Summary: Kurenaru. Kurenai falls for him, but even she doesn't know herself that she is in love. Naruto is positive about his feelings. A ThreeParter PART TWO UP!
1. Part One: An Unlikely Man

**A/N: An idea that came into my head one day was… why don't I write a fanfiction of a small romance between Kurenai and Naruto? I don't own Naruto, so please don't either flame or sue me.**

**The Way I Want You Tonight**

**By antiassasinguy**

**Part One: An Unlikely Man**

Kurenai was sitting on a tree branch overlooking a cliff. At twenty-seven, she still had not found a man to call her own. It was not depressing to her, in any sense, but she needed someone to cry on, someone to kiss and tell her she was beautiful. She needed to love. No matter how hard the ninjas of any village; even from Sound; they couldn't avoid love forever.

Kurenai considered the men that she had already known throughout her life.

She had not gone on any dates before; rejecting all the boys that had tried to ask her out.

_They were creeps anyway_, she thought as she crossed off at least fifty men off her mind.

First, there was Kakashi. He looked like the type that would make a good father, according to the way he manages his team. He looked like a candidate for her husband, except for the fact that she had been openly humiliated by him during her chuunin days, sparking their rivalry.

Then, there was Asuma. Now, he was a good guy, despite his addiction to tobacco, he was a very good choice for a husband. Caring, loving, kind-hearted and had good humour. All that was left was a ring with their names on it and they would be married. Definitely head of the table.

Gai was a little too hyper and upbeat for her taste. She couldn't bear being with him for a minute, let alone the rest of her life. Bottom of the table, definitely.

Kiba; he was her student, and a little smelly on the physical side.

Shino; he was slightly disgusting and a little too scary for her taste.

Adding all of the people mentioned by her mind, she currently saw Asuma as her number one candidate with Kakashi coming a close second. She smiled to herself at the two thoughts.

Her mind was too occupied with looking for love that she forgot to balance herself on the branch and fell.

'Eep!' the female jounin cried as she dropped from the tree and…

Into the arms of a blonde teenager.

'Kurenai-san? What are you doing here?' it was the loudmouth of the village, Naruto.

She recognized him by the whisker marks on his cheeks.

Kurenai took a look at her saviour. He had changed so much from when she last saw him.

Of course, she did not know about him being away for almost three years for training.

Naruto did not wear his forehead protector around his forehead anymore, but around his waist. His hair was not spiky anymore but was smooth and straight reaching his waist. He had the looks that could rival the best-looking men in the village.

He no longer wore the orange get up, but a black pair of pants and a zipped up blue jacket and a utility belt that was wrapped around his waist.

'Naruto? What are you doing here?' the woman began.

'This is where I always come to think.' The blonde boy said.

Naruto set her down. Kurenai saw that the young man was her height, but he was definitely shorter than most of the other male ninjas his age, except for maybe Rock Lee.

'So what are you here for, Naruto?' Kurenai asked him.

'I told you, I always come here to think. What are you here for?'

'Same thing here.' Kurenai replied to his question.

'Well, why don't we both sit down and think? Two heads are better than one.'

'Alright then.' Kurenai sat down; her back leaning against the tree.

Naruto joined her, sitting right next to her.

Kurenai was in deep thought; she needed a man to be with her for the rest of her life.

'Kurenai-san, would you care to tell me what made you come here?'

'Oh? It's stupid, really.' Kurenai said, grimacing at her thoughts.

'Well, why don't you just talk to me about it? Maybe it isn't stupid at all.'

'Naruto…' she could not continue as she had looked into Naruto's eager innocent eyes, and being a female not immune to them; she followed what he persisted, 'I came here to think about… men. You see, Naruto, I'm a full grown woman. In a couple of years I'll be thirty. I…'

'You are now thinking about your love life and looking for a man.'

'Yes. Yes, Naruto. It's something that none of us ninjas can't escape. It's a powerful thing.'

'I know, Kurenai-san.' Naruto said, grimacing now, 'But I don't think that I have ever felt any love or affection in my life. Because of… what I am…'

Naruto chose not to continue his sentence; scared he might scare her off.

'Because you are the vessel for the nine-tailed demon fox.' she finished for him.

Naruto slowly nodded, expecting the woman to go away with some stupid excuse.

'I didn't know that you led such a life.' that was all she could say.

'Kurenai-san, I wish you luck in finding a person for your heart.' Naruto got up, smiling again, 'And I'm really sorry about just now.'

'You're sorry about what, Naruto?' Kurenai couldn't understand what he was saying.

'I thought that you were an angel that dropped out of the sky.' Naruto said, blushing.

As he walked away from the scene, he didn't see that Kurenai was blushing as well.

Kurenai had slept late the previous night, thinking about what Naruto had said to her the night before. Not that she had anything to do today as Kiba had a bad cold and called in sick, Shino was attending the wedding of one of his Uncles and Hinata was away with her father and sister for some intense personal training.

'Might as well go talk to Asuma.' she said, yawning.

She had exited her home wearing a jounin uniform as all her other everyday clothes were being washed.

'What a beautiful day,' Kurenai said as she looked at the clear blue sky.

She decided to walk around for some groceries before meeting up with Asuma as her stock would almost certainly be deleted after the next weekend. And she hadn't been on a mission for such a long time that she missed the good old days as a working jounin instead of a jounin instructor. No offence to any of her students, but she truly missed going on a tough mission.

Without her mind focusing on where she was looking, she bumped into someone.

'Oh, please forgive me!' she apologized, and saw that it was Naruto whom she bumped into.

'Good Morning, Kurenai-san.' Naruto said, smiling at the woman.

'G-Good Morning, Naruto.' She stuttered to say.

He was wearing the same ensemble as yesterday. Then, Kurenai noticed that he had a small fox in his arms, a kit actually, cuddled up and asleep.

'Naruto; is that a fox you've got in your hands?' Kurenai said suddenly.

'Yes, this is a fox, Kurenai-san. I named him Sai.' Naruto said, still smiling at her, 'I got him a week ago when I was in the nearby forests.'

She then noticed that the kit had a wound on its left front leg, which was wrapped by bandages.

'Could you tell me where Kiba is, Kurenai-san? Because I'm not a good animal doctor and as you can see, I think that Sai's wound is getting infected.'

'I'm sorry Naruto, but Kiba's sick today.' Kurenai said, observing the little kit in the arms of the young man as it cuddled into Naruto's chest, 'But I think that I can help you. I've tended to some of Akamaru's wounds before and this shouldn't be any different.'

'If you can, thank you, Kurenai-san.' Naruto said before looking at the baby fox in his arms.

'Why don't you come to my place, Naruto? I got some stuff that your fox could use.' She said to him, but as she finished her sentence, she noticed that there was something about his features.

She knew that now he wasn't the old Naruto anymore, that was for sure.

'All right, Kurenai-san, your house it is.' He said.

Kurenai turned on her heel to lead him to her house.

Naruto followed from behind, the baby fox in his arms resting.

The pair of them stopped in front of Kurenai's house.

Kurenai's home looked like a typical house in Konoha and had a fish pond out in front and a walkway made of stone leading to the entrance of her home. The house was quite big, with a garden of flowers out in front surrounding the pond.

'Come on in, Naruto.' She welcomed him into her home.

'Thank you, Kurenai-san,' Naruto said his thanks for welcoming him into her home.

Naruto walked in and saw that Kurenai's home was very well furnished with stalks of a cherry blossom tree in a vase on a table in her living area as the first things he saw upon entering.

There was a picture of Kurenai and her parents on the wall, with Kurenai looking about seventeen at the time and one picture of Kurenai in a white kimono at a festival.

'Bring him to the kitchen, Naruto.' Kurenai called out from the corresponding area.

'Okay, Kurenai-san.' He said and proceeded to the kitchen, where Kurenai had all sorts of things to help her with her work.

Naruto's eyes widened slightly at all the things that were set on the counter.

'Are you sure we need all of this stuff, Kurenai-san?' Naruto said, looking at a scalpel.

'No, Naruto. I'm just setting all this stuff out so I can find what your fox needs.'

'I thought you were going to cut him open or something.' Naruto said, smiling again.

'Of course not, Naruto.' the woman said to him, a smile plastered on her face as well.

Naruto set his pet kit on the kitchen counter (but quite a distance from the things that Kurenai had taken out front her kitchen cupboard). Kurenai took all the things she needed to mend the little fox's front leg. The adorable creature did not bite her or even try to claw her as she mended the wound. Naruto was quite impressed as most wounded animals would retaliate.

'You have a way with animals, Kurenai-san.' Naruto said as she finished with the wound.

'Thank you, Naruto.' She said to him in response to his praise, 'There. All finished.'

Kurenai lifted the little fox and put it in her arms as it cuddled into her chest.

'He likes you, Kurenai-san. Look at him.' Naruto said, smiling at the little kit in her arms.

'I guess he does like me.' Kurenai cradled the little fox in her arms.

Kurenai then set the kit down on the kitchen floor and it went to Naruto, who took it into his arms. Naruto gave Kurenai a smile as a token of his gratitude.

'I wish all my problems can be solved as easily healing your fox.' She said; a hint of sadness in her voice.

'Kurenai-san…' Naruto began, not sure of what to say to the jounin.

'It's alright, Naruto. It's not like I'm going to be like this forever.'

Kurenai walked into her living area and dropped herself onto her couch. She wiped away her tears that were streaming out from her eyes.

Tears?

Kurenai never showed her sensitive side to her peers, scared that they might think of her as weak. She was a person that put pride first. Nobody should see her in this state.

But she had thought of being alone for the rest of her life; with no one to be there for her.

'Kurenai-san?' Naruto had come to the living area, watching the tears stream down her face.

'Oh, Naruto.' She said, sniffing, 'Sorry you have to see me like this.'

'Kurenai-san, please don't cry, please…' Naruto said as she made her way to him and started to sob on his shoulder, 'Kurenai-san, I don't like to see anyone I care about cry, please…'

He had let it slip. He had said that he cared for her.

'Care? Naruto, you barely know me.' Kurenai said, grimacing, 'I mean…'

Naruto embraced her, surprising the jounin.

'Don't cry, please. I don't want to ever see you cry.' He whispered gently into her ear.'

She stroked her back and soothed her with soft words.

'Naruto,' Kurenai began, surprised at the actions of this young man, 'why are you doing all this? I-I barely know you, so why are you doing this?'

'Kurenai-san, did you know that I had a crush on you during my genin days?'

'Y-You what?' Kurenai was shocked by this piece of information, 'You had a crush on me?'

She drew back to see his face. And for the first time in her life, she saw Naruto as a person that shone brightly in her life. Right now, he was smiling at her and she had a confused look.

'Yeah. I saw you at the chuunin exams up close and personal for the first time.' Naruto started, wiping away some tears from her face, 'I thought you were beautiful. I never told anyone other than Tsunade-obaa-chan and Jiraiya-sensei, and they encouraged me to tell you, but I was too scared. Because, well; you were already a jounin and I was still a genin.'

I almost told you once, at the festival, but Hinata and Kiba came along, so I just bragged to you all about my ambitions and dreams, if you do recall.'

'And Kakashi came along, didn't he, Naruto? And that girl Sakura hit you on the head for being rude to us.' Kurenai smiled, remembering the day.

Naruto nodded, now looking into Kurenai's face.

'So you see, Kurenai. You're not unlucky in love. You're beautiful. You're what the woman in Konoha would change into if they had the chance. And I, well,' Naruto's face turned red before he continued, 'think that you'd be the perfect bride for anyone in this village.'

'T-Thank you, Naruto.' Kurenai said, wiping her tears off her face, and continued, 'But did you really have a crush on me all those years ago?'

'Yeah, that's why I always acted so much like an idiot around you, well, most of the time.'

He turned around to pick up Sai, his pet kit, which was on the floor staring at the two.

'Kurenai-san, I want to help you out of your depression, so why don't we go for a date at Konoha Park today?' Naruto said, his eyes looking innocent again.

Kurenai couldn't believe what Naruto had just said. He was slightly red as well.

_Could this be a side that I've never seen before?_

That was what Kurenai thought as she watched Naruto blush nervously.

'I guess you could reward me with that for fixing up your fox.' Kurenai said.

'That's great then; I'll be cooking for you, okay? So just dress up nice and I'll be here to pick you up by one.' He said cheerfully.

He bade her farewell and exited her home, his everyday grin in place once more.

'You here that, Sai? Kurenai-san's going out with us today.' The blonde teenager said to his pet.

Being lazy, the little orange fur ball just snuggled into his chest, not hearing a single word he said.

'I'm really starting to think I should change your name to Shikamaru the Second.'

He walked around for a while, drawing some strange stares from women that were passing by.

_This must be how Sasuke feels every time he passes a girl_, Naruto thought, grimacing at the same time.

Naruto's thoughts drifted to his former friend turned enemy, the so-called avenger of the Uchiha Clan. He had tried all he could to stop him, but now he was by Orochimaru's side.

He shrugged the thoughts off, not wanting to think about Sasuke anymore.

'Hey, Naruto!' Naruto spun around and found the source of the voice; Jiraiya.

'Hello, ero-sennin. How fares you on this beautiful day?' Naruto asked.

'I'm fine, Naruto. Hey, are you finished with that book yet? I'm pretty eager.'

'No, I haven't. I said that it would be finished by next week, not today.'

'But your illustrations are so good, Naruto! You _must_ let me look at it again!'

'I'm sorry, ero-sennin, but you have to wait until next week; when the book is to be displayed to the extremely perverted general public.' Naruto said, smiling.

'Naruto, I taught you everything I know over the last few years and this is how you thank me?' Jiraiya put on a mock sad face, making the young ninja grin.

'Alright, ero-sensei, I'll give you a copy of my book tomorrow, okay? Stop it with the face.'

Jiraiya's face immediately lit up and Naruto could have sworn he floated away in happiness.

'Man, that guy definitely has to decrease his level of perverseness.' Naruto sighed.

He went straight to his house and got changed into more appropriate wear.

Naruto wore a dark blue shirt and black slacks that were once owned by Kakashi.

'Alright, time to cook for Kurenai-chan.' Naruto said, not realizing that he had just ended Kurenai's name with a –chan, a term that he reserved for the girls that he liked.

Though he didn't tell her, Naruto still had a crush on Kurenai.

He only told her that he _did_ have a crush on her when he was still with Kakashi.

'Maybe I should make some bento or something for her.'

As Naruto toiled effortlessly to make lunch for both him and Kurenai, the latter was on her couch, thinking about what the blonde ninja had said to her just a while ago.

'So he had a crush on me, eh?' she said to herself, 'It's hard to believe…'

Kurenai stared at her ceiling for some time, and kept thinking.

Why was Naruto so nice to her? Why did he like her?

And why did she suddenly feel that Naruto was a person important to her?

She didn't know it, but right now, the jounin felt what most of us call first love.

Naruto waited in the park, sitting down cross-legged, the food for the date set on the blue cloth under him. He had a new reputation for being a good cook, thanks to a certain white-haired sannin who made him prepare meals everyday for the past few years.

Sai was on his lap, resting. It was a beautiful day, as Kurenai had said. There were very few clouds in the sky and in Konoha Park, several other couples were basking in the afternoon sun.

But there was still no sign of Kurenai. She was already twenty minutes late and the food might not be as warm as it had been.

'Naruto!' a feminine voice called from a distance, a tired look on the owner's face when she reached him.

'Hello, Kurenai-san.' Naruto said and playfully added, 'You're beginning to act like Kakashi-sensei.'

Then, he noticed what Kurenai was wearing; a black tank top and a white leather skirt stopping at her lap. It was then he confirmed that this was exactly what all the men of Konoha wanted.

'I'm sorry I'm late, Naruto. I lost track of time.' the woman said, slightly panting.

'It's okay; Kakashi-sensei has been a lot later than this before, so don't mind it.'

Kurenai looked around and saw the food that Naruto had prepared for this date.

There were two bentos for them and what looked like a heap of soft drinks for them.

'You sure know how to prepare a lunch, Naruto.' was all that she could say.

'This is nothing; I've cooked harder meals before.' Naruto said modestly.

'I find that hard to believe. I heard that you can only _boil_ ramen.'

Naruto laughed softly when she said this and Kurenai joined in on the laughter shortly after.

'Well, do you want to eat first, Kurenai-san?' Naruto asked.

Sai suddenly woke up from his slumber and charged at Kurenai, who picked the kit up.

'It's nice to see you again, Sai.' Kurenai greeted the baby fox, which yipped in return.

Kurenai set the young kit down on the blue cloth and looked to the blonde in front of her.

'Shall we, Kurenai-san?' Naruto said, gesturing to the food that lay on the blue cloth.

'Of course, Naruto. Let's.' Kurenai replied, smiling.

Naruto passed a plate that very much resembled a tray with cubicles filled with shrimp, fish, rice and a variety of mixed vegetables such as carrots, lettuce, onions and cabbages.

She took a spoonful of the food on her plate and her tastebuds entered heaven.

'Naruto, this is delicious.' she said, licking her lips after the spoonful of food.

'Thank you, Kurenai-san.' Naruto said as soon as he finished his mouthful.

'Maybe sometime you could teach me how to prepare a meal. I cook, but I'm not that good.'

'Sure, Kurenai-san. I'd be only too happy to teach you.'

Kurenai smiled at him and Naruto smiled back at her. Somehow, being around each other had put their minds at ease; away from it all.

'Naruto,' Kurenai began again, after finishing another spoonful of her meal, 'thank you.'

'For what, Kurenai-san?' Naruto questioned, looking at the woman with his innocent eyes.

'For helping me get… out of my depression…'

'That's alright, Kurenai-san. I know what it's like to be depressed and disappointed. I don't ever want anybody else, be it ero-sennin, Sakura-chan, or even Sasuke, to feel that.'

'Naruto…' she found herself speechless once more in front of this boy.

It seemed that Naruto too did not have anything to say to the raven-haired woman.

Kurenai had never seen this side to the boy before; so innocent, so caring, so fragile…

It was everything that she wanted in a man and more.

_He doesn't deserve me_, she thought, _Hinata would be lucky to have him._

'Kurenai-san, I want to ask you a question, if it's not too personal…'

'Go ahead and ask me; I'll answer if I can.'

'Kurenai-san,' Naruto began his face slightly red, 'What do you want from a man?'

'Oh,' Kurenai turned red as well and Naruto was about to apologize, 'I don't want anything material from a man. Nothing. All I expect him to give me is love.'

'Love…' Naruto repeated the last word, as if he tasted it, 'I guess that _is_ what all women want in the end.'

Kurenai nodded at the end of the blonde's sentence, smiling slightly and Naruto smiled back.

They finished their meal in silence, excluding the mischievous fox Sai, which kept yipping.

'Thank you, Naruto. That was a delicious meal.' Kurenai complimented.

'You are welcome, Kurenai-san. I hope we can do this often.'

Kurenai didn't say anything to reply him but thanked him again before boding him farewell.

'Naruto, whoever gets you is going to be a lucky girl.' she said to herself.

'Than I guess you are the lucky girl Kurenai-san.'

Kurenai quickly spun on her heel and found herself face-to-face with the owner of the voice; Hatake Kakashi and his three companions Jiraiya, Tsunade and Iruka.

And apparently they were all grinning like there was no tomorrow.

'We watched the whole date.' Tsunade said; a tone of happiness (?) in her voice.

'Hokage-sama, it wasn't a date. He just wanted me to go out with him for today.'

'Than doesn't it qualify as a date if he asked you to go out with him?' Kakashi said.

'No, it doesn't qualify as a _date_ because we both _are not_ dating.' Kurenai answered.

'But you still went out with him! I am so proud of my student!' Jiraiya said happily.

'Could you all just give me a break? I just went out with him _once_!'

'No, we can't give you a break. Because we're all eager to see a wedding.' Iruka said.

Everyone except Kurenai, who turned a beet red, stared at the scarred chuunin.

'What? I'm just saying it.' Iruka said, smiling nervously.

'But seriously, Iruka. A wedding at Naruto's age?' Kakashi said, making Kurenai turn redder.

'It's possible as the minimum age for marriage is fourteen.' Tsunade said.

'So a wedding _can_ be held?' Kakashi said, looking at the blonde woman, who nodded.

'SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!' Kurenai shouted at the four ninjas in front of her, 'I AM NOT GETTING MARRIED TO NARUTO, I AM NOT DATING HIM AND I AM NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT THIS ANYMORE EVEN IF I DO THINK THAT HE IS DROP DEAD SEXY!'

Everyone within a hundred metre radius heard her shout all those words but only paid attention to the last five words of her speech: "He is drop dead sexy".

'So you think that Naruto's drop dead sexy, eh, Kurenai?' Kakashi said, apparently grinning.

'No!' Kurenai said, turning red again, 'What I mean to say is that he's sweet and caring…'

'So now he's sweet and caring, eh?' Kakashi said, his tone a teasing one, 'Well, I don't know how to put it, Kurenai_-chan_, but I'd say that you are in love with him.'

'I am not in love with him.' Kurenai said through gritted teeth.

And _this_ was the man that she had considered a potential husband.

'Everyone, I'd like to talk with Kurenai in private for a while.' Tsunade said suddenly.

_Thank you, Hokage-sama_, Kurenai thought as she told the men to leave them.

'Well, now that those guys are gone…' Tsunade turned to the young woman, 'Walk with me for a while won't you, Kurenai-san.'

Kurenai nodded at the Godaime and walked with her for a while until they reached a bridge.

'What do you really think of Naruto, Kurenai-san?' Tsunade asked innocently.

'W-What do you mean "what do I really think of Naruto"?' Kurenai stammered.

'I mean; what do you really think about our very own infamous male blonde?'

'I-I…' Kurenai was thinking that must look like a duplicate of Hinata's now.

She breathed in and out to calm herself down.

'I think that he is a very good-hearted and caring person.' Kurenai said simply.

'Anything else, Kurenai?' Tsunade asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

'Of course not.' Kurenai said simply with a hint of steadiness in her tone.

A false tone of steadiness, anyway.

'So if you are not feeling anything for him, would you like me to tell him and break his heart?'

'No!' Kurenai shrilled at the Hokage, whose mouth formed an innocent smile.

'Kurenai, let me give you a hint or two about love. It comes from the places we least expect and the items we least seek out. Naruto is the place that you have least expected to return your love, but look at him now. A young stud that cares for you in the most tender of ways.'

'This morning, Naruto told me that he used to have a crush on me when he was still a genin.'

'_Used to_?' Tsunade repeated, laughing softly into her fist, 'He still does.'

Kurenai stared at the Hokage of Konoha, not showing any emotion.

'Kurenai let me tell you one last thing; Naruto has a crush on most of the girls he meets, but most of them just fade away after time; like his crush on his team-mate, Haruno Sakura.'

'I don't understand, Hokage-sama; what does he like me for? For my body?'

'Naruto doesn't look at trivial things like that, Kurenai. He has an ability that none of us have.'

'What is that, Hokage-sama?' Kurenai asked, puzzled by her words.

'He can look into a person's heart. He can find kindness in someone.'

Kurenai still looked puzzled to Tsunade, so she gave her a little history lesson.

'Kurenai, do you want to know the real reason Naruto is kind to you?' Tsunade said, her face looking as if she was slightly worried of the outcome of this question.

'Yes. I want to know. I don't love him, Hokage-sama, but I want to know.'

'Do you remember what happened ten years ago in that playground over there?'

Tsunade pointed to a playground about a hundred metres away from them.

'No, I don't, Hokage-sama.' Kurenai began, honestly not remembering what she was talking about, then, 'Wait, I remember. It was raining…'

'And did you meet a little boy there? One about five or six years old?' Tsunade continued.

'Yes, he had blonde hair. ' Kurenai said, reminiscing, 'I couldn't see all of his face. He covered half of it with a blue scarf. His forehead was bleeding and I asked him what was wrong.

'He didn't answer me,' Kurenai continued, her eyes still in their dream-like state, 'He ran away from me, but he slipped on the mud and fell to the ground.'

Kurenai looked at Tsunade, who signalled for her to continue.

'He got up after that and I laughed at him and he turned and glared at me.' Kurenai giggled at the memory, 'He had such cute eyes. I checked his wound and used a healing jutsu to close it. He stared at me again and asked, "Why did you do that"?'

'And you answered because he had such cute eyes.' Tsunade finished for her, then asked her, 'Do you even know who that boy was, Kurenai?'

'No, Hokage-sama; all I remember is that he had-' Kurenai stopped in mid-sentence.

She looked at the Godaime again, her face that of someone who had just made a shocking discovery. Actually, that was what it was: a shocking discovery.

'Was that little boy…Naruto, Hokage-sama?' Kurenai questioned Tsunade.

'Took you long enough to guess, Kurenai.' Tsunade said, giggling.

'So is he just repaying me for the kindness that I did him then?'

'Kurenai, if you're too thick to realise it yourself let me set it straight for you.' Tsunade said, a tone of mock impatience in her voice, 'You-are-his-first-love.'

'Me? His first love? I didn't know him then; he didn't even know me.'

'Naruto isn't as simple-minded as everyone thinks. He doesn't look at a cute girl and says he likes her. He looks at the girl carefully, evaluating if she is the one or not and so on and so forth.

'And after all those years, the only one that isn't crossed off his love list is you; his first love.'

Kurenai didn't say anything to Tsunade, who just marked off another matchmaking mission on her list with a tick, meaning: mission accomplished.

'Now I want you to look deep into your heart and decide whether _he_ is the one for _you_.'

Tsunade left the jounin to her thoughts, smiling to herself as she left.

Kurenai made her way home and flopped onto her couch, thinking as hard as she could.

'Why did his first love have to be me of all people?' Kurenai moaned, but her thoughts fought her moans and her groans on why it had to be her.

_But he is a nice person, Kurenai_, her brain argued.

Kurenai didn't respond to that naughty voice at the back of her head as it gave the reasons.

_He's sweet, kind, generous, lovely, sometimes loud and absolutely adorable and loves you._

'What more could I ask from a man?' she said to herself.

The evening sun came after a while and Kurenai realized how late it was.

She still had to get her groceries. Without changing, she exited her home and ran to the marketplace. Lucky for her, the stands in the marketplace were still open.

Shopping for her food had taken faster than the amount of time she thought it would take.

She was now carrying four bags of groceries and girls don't have much strength, so…

'Eep!' Kurenai cried as she lost her balance and was about to fall again, when…

'You'd think that just because you're a ninja, you don't need any help with those?'

Naruto had come to the rescue yet again, catching the woman before she hit the ground.

'Naruto!' Kurenai exclaimed, looking at the boy with wide eyes.

'Let me help you with those; young girls shouldn't be allowed to carry heavy bags all by themselves.' Naruto said, giggling at the end of his sentence, making Kurenai blush.

She handed him her bags and thanked him for catching her.

'No worries, Kurenai-san. Anyone would take pleasure from catching you.' he said mischievously.

'Are you following me?' Kurenai asked him but Naruto just smiled at her.

'The answer to that question, Kurenai-san, would be up to you.'

Naruto's face was so sweet .She could just stare into his blue eyes and never look away.

'Where's Sai?' she asked the blonde, after observing him.

'Tsunade-obaa chan said that she wanted the little guy for company tonight.' he explained.

'Oh.' she said.

'Kurenai-san, you want me to teach you to cook, right?'

Kurenai looked at Naruto and nodded slowly, knowing where this would lead to.

'I'll come by tomorrow and give you a lesson on how to cook, okay?'

Once again, Kurenai nodded and Naruto kept watching her after she turned away.

They were on their way to Kurenai's home now as Naruto was helping her with her things.

About ten minutes later, they stopped in front of her house.

'Thank you for helping me with the groceries, Naruto.' she thanked him.

'You're welcome, Kurenai-san. I'll be here tomorrow, okay?' he said.

The blonde teenager turned around and whistled a tune as he walked away.

Before he retreated to his own way home, he cast a look over his shoulder to look at her.

_I'll love you forever, Kurenai-san._

Another day was upon Kurenai as she woke up to find that the sun had risen up.

She smiled to herself and as the warm sunbeams touched her cold body, she was reminded of a certain someone that made her feel as warm.

She giggled to herself at the memory of the day before. Naruto had been so sweet and caring to her. He had prepared lunch for their "date" at the park and what a lunch it was.

And today, the blonde teenager was coming to her house to teach her some cooking techniques.

But she doubted if Naruto would enjoy being with her with the morning breath and all.

She entered her shower and thought about Naruto as long as she was in there

'He's caring, loving, a good father…' she said as the rain poured upon her skin.

_Maybe I should consider Naruto as a husband, _she thought.

Husband. Father to her babies. To be with her until the end of their lives.

'No, I shouldn't think like that!' she snapped herself back to reality, 'He's too young for me. And Hinata likes him. What would she think of all of this?'

_All's fair in love and war._

That voice in her head was back again. And this time, with a vengeance.

Before she could counter the question, the doorbell rang.

_Not now, I'm in the middle of arguing with my common sense._

She put on a towel and went to answer the door. She swung it open and: there was Naruto.

'Naruto! What are you doing here so early?' she questioned the teenager.

'Uh…' Naruto found himself speechless as he was facing a towel-clad Yuuhi Kurenai; one of the sexiest and attractive women in the village, 'Can… I…Come… In?'

'Of course you can, Naruto. Come on in.' she gestured him to come inside.

He came inside and realised that he had a bag slung over his shoulder.

'What's in the bag?' she asked, looking at the bag, which apparently had a tear on it.

'Do you, well…' Naruto was blushed a very dark shade of pink.

_Want to rip of that towel and love me?_

Apparently, Naruto had a voice at the back of his head as well.

'Before I teach you how to cook, why don't we go to the lake and have a swim?' Naruto said, and in response, Kurenai raise an eyebrow, 'I mean; it's such a beautiful day. And there are a lot of people there, too.'

'Alright, let me get changed first.' she said, smiling.

Naruto nodded slowly and as Kurenai went to her bedroom, he gazed longingly at her.

He flopped onto a couch in Kurenai's living are and wondered if this was such a good idea.

He had asked her out to the lake due to the pressure put on him by Tsunade and Jiraiya, who both assured him that nothing would go wrong there as they would be there to observe and guide him through everything. It was a risk worth taking and…

He could have sworn that both Kakashi and Iruka were listening through a window from outside. But he wasn't in the mood to check if it really was them.

He waited in silence for fifteen minutes…

'Alright, Naruto. Let's go.' Kurenai had come out from her room.

**The End For Part 1 of 3**


	2. Part Two: Feelings Realised

A/N: Sorry for the slow update, but I had schoolwork to do, as I said. So it's now June and I will finally upload the last two chapters of The Way I Want You Tonight

**The Way I Want You Tonight**

**Part Two: Feelings Realised**

Kurenai was wearing what looked like the top of a blue two-piece bikini and a white shirt tied around her waist and her forehead protector was nowhere in sight. She also had a short black skirt, her shinobi sandals and had a bag slung over her left shoulder. Her appearance, to Naruto, was no less than _hot_.

No, to the blonde, Kurenai was literally _aflame _with the word.

Not that the young man showed that he did thought of her that way.

'I thought girls take forever to dress.' Naruto teased her playfully.

'Well, I'm a _woman_, Naruto.' she said, smiling at the blonde ninja.

And Naruto smiled back at her, making the young _woman_ blush.

'Shall we, Kurenai-san?' Naruto said, opening the door for her.

Kurenai exited her home, followed by Naruto and locked the door to her house.

On their way to the lake, Kurenai realized that quite a few people were staring at them. Or in other words, at the rather well-figured Yuuhi Kurenai.

Naruto didn't take notice of any of this and just ignored the people for the remainder of their walk to the lake as if he was used to all this attention. For good or bad reasons. He had attracted more than all this for as long as he lived.

They reached the lake and Naruto was right; there were a lot of people there.

And Kurenai saw some familiar faces there as well and so did Naruto.

Kakashi and Iruka were under a beach umbrella; Kakashi was wearing a black pair of swimming trunks and a cloth as a facemask, reading that dirty book of his and Iruka was wearing a blue pair of swimming trunks and had a very popular comic book with him that suspiciously looked like it was from Naruto's room.

Chouji, Shikamaru and Ino were in the water splashing each other.

Their teacher, Asuma was sitting on a green picnic cloth with all the food in a picnic basket smoking a cigarette, watching his students.

Gai and Lee were in the water as well, with Tenten and Neji eating their food on a black cloth. It was quite funny for Naruto to see Neji in pink swimming trunks.

'Naruto! What a surprise to see you here!' it was Sakura, his old team mate.

She was wearing a green coloured one-piece swimsuit, hugging her figure.

'And who do we have here?' Sakura had just spotted the woman next to Naruto, not knowing that it was actually Kurenai, 'You got yourself a girlfriend?' she added playfully to him; the effect on naruto was just as she expected.

'Err… Sakura-chan, she's not really my girlfriend.' he said, blushing.

'Sure she isn't. So when's the wedding?' she asked, the playful tone still there.

'Really, Sakura-chan, she's not my girlfriend, really!' he persisted.

'Stop lying, Naruto.' Sakura said, still not knowing that the blushing woman was Kurenai; Team Eight's Jounin Instructor and hottest woman around.

'Sakura-chan, this is _Kurenai-san_; Kiba's _teacher_.' Naruto said.

'What!' Sakura exclaimed, almost deafening the ears of the two people, 'Na-Naruto, you're dating Kiba's _teacher_! I-I can't believe it! I knew you were quite the man now, b-but…'

She was staring from one person to the other, a shocked look plastered on her face. Her brain was still trying to find a possible explanation for the pair.

'I'm not really dating Naruto-kun, Sakura. He's just being the nice guy he is.' Kurenai said; the information took a while to take place into Sakura's mind.

'Oh.' she said, looking at a grinning Naruto.

'Sakura!' Ino called out to her best friend.

'I gotta go! Have fun, Kurenai-san! Naruto!' Sakura waved at them as she ran to Ino and her friends for a very enjoyable splash-fest.

Naruto watched as a bunch of kunoichis and shinobis splashed water among themselves in the lake, having fun as normal teenagers, not ninjas.

'Do you want to go for a splash, Naruto?' Kurenai asked the boy.

'Of course, Kurenai-san.' he answered, smiling away.

She proceeded to take off her short skirt, revealing the lower part of her blue bikini. This, of course, made all the good male ninjas of Konoha that were nearby to look at her and fantasize, except for Asuma, Gai, Iruka and Kakashi, of course.

'Kurenai-san, let's go!' he waved to her in his black trunks with a flaming spiral.

She went in the water to join him and pretty soon they were splashing each other with their hands, giggling and laughing as they did so.

Kurenai had to admit, she was having fun with this boy.

_Maybe accepting Naruto as my boyfriend wouldn't be so bad_, she thought.

He had been so nice to her for the past few days.

'Look out, Kurenai-san!' Naruto called out as he did some hand seals.

And out came a squirt of water, splashing her right in the face.

'Oh, you are going to get it!' she said, a tone of mock anger in her voice.

She did her hand seals and what hit Naruto was more than a little squirt.

It was a medium-sized dragon made of water and after Kurenai had finished giggling at him, she realized that he was not in sight. He had vanished.

'Naruto? This isn't funny!' she called out, almost shouting as she searched a small area for signs of the blonde shinobi, going underwater as she searched.

'Gotcha!' Naruto appeared behind Kurenai and wrapped her in his arms.

She struggled to get free from him, but just settled to be there in his arms after a few seconds. Naruto may not have realised it, but

From their spot, Kakashi and Iruka watched the two people.

'Don't you think they look so cute together, Kakashi-sensei?' Iruka asked.

'Of course they do, Iruka-sensei. They deserve one another.' Kakashi said, not taking his eyes off the latest volume of Jiraiya's infamous novels in his hands, 'But there might be a few problems with their relationship. I mean, once the whole village knows that they are going out…'

'It's alright, Kakashi-sensei.' Iruka said, slightly smiling, 'They'll go through with it if I know what Naruto's like. He likes her a lot and I'm sure that Kurenai feels the same, except for the fact that she is obviously in denial.'

'Iruka,' Kakashi began; the signs on his mask showed that he was smiling, 'Talking about Naruto and Kurenai, what about you and Anko-san? I heard that you two have been going out for the past few weeks.'

At the mention of Anko, Iruka blushed. Kakashi, ever the teaser, made sure that the chuunin would blush even more by the end of the conversation.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Kurenai were having their fun in the lake's water.

'I'm hungry, Naruto.' Kurenai said suddenly as Naruto suddenly blushed.

He was in a rather embarrassing position with Kurenai. He had his arms around her waist, near her belly button. And his hands were on her wet, bear skin…

He released his hands from that rather tantalizing spot on Kurenai's body and smiled at her; as though he had never done anything wrong. Was touching her with his bare hands wrong? Of course not, but his fantasies were.

'I've got some food that I made in the packs I brought.' Naruto said, striding to their picnic spot through the water, where the food that he had made was.

Kurenai followed him, and had the sinking feeling that she was being watched.

She was, by more than ten people. Among the number were Sakura and Ino.

Naruto sat down on the grass and took out Kurenai's bento, smiling rather foxily at the woman as he handed her the food. Kurenai took the food and set it down beside her before taking out a white towel and dried her hair with it.

Naruto took out his own bento and opened it, revealing a very appetizing-looking variety of food that he himself had made for this occasion.

'Wow, I wonder if mine is just as good.' Kurenai said, looking at Naruto's food.

'Don't worry; I made yours just as good, if not better, than mine.' Naruto said.

Kurenai smiled at him in return and opened her bento, revealing a rather fulfilling-looking assortment of seafood. She loved seafood; it was her favourite type of dish, not that anyone knew, of course, as most of her female friends assumed that she was one of the women that preferred vegetables, with her figure. Kurenai let it slip; she was not bothered with the world of gossip, anyway.

'Let's eat!' Naruto said cheerfully, taking out two pairs of chopsticks and handing over one pair to Kurenai before beginning to eat his food.

Naruto's cooking was no less than delicious; the taste of his seafood cooking just slipped into her mouth as she entered a second bliss.

From a distance, several male ninjas were looking with envy at the teenager that was with Kurenai for several reasons that will not be spoken of.

Kurenai and Naruto felt at ease with their presence within each other, for some reason; Naruto had a reason, actually, but Kurenai did not. She could not understand, for the life of her, why she was so at relaxed and feeling so peaceful with the blonde ninja. She felt warm, as though he was a second sun to her, shining with his yellow rays of kindness and comfort. She found that she liked it.

Without even herself noticing, she began to stare at Naruto as he ate. Not actually stare, but glanced at him for quite long. She was somehow attracted to him; somehow the boy was creating a light that she did not want to be put out.

Naruto was slightly oblivious to her staring as he ate his food, not actually taking notice of Kurenai's face. He packed up his food after several minutes, finished with it and turned to Kurenai, who was _still _staring.

'Is there something on my face, Kurenai-san?' Naruto asked, slightly smiling.

Kurenai snapped out of her trance and started blushing; her skin a variety of red tones that many artists in Konoha would crawl over a bed made of kunais.

'Are you blushing?' Naruto came closer to Kurenai, grinning very widely.

'NO!' Kurenai almost shouted as several of the present ninjas stared at the two people, most of the males in the group were growing quite jealous as how could a sixteen year-old teenager gain looks that are so powerful be so close with one of the sexiest women in Konoha? 'Uzumaki Naruto, I am not blushing!'

'The twenty-six shades or red on your face say that you are.' Naruto said in a sing-song voice; Kurenai, if possible, turned even more shades of red.

'Uzumaki Naruto, if you don't stop shut up this instant I will kill you.'

Naruto's eyes widened slightly at Kurenai's threat, but he just grinned at her as a response and sat back down, cross-legged and cleared his bento container of all remnants of his lunch into a small plastic bag before getting up to his feet.

'Your container, if you may, Kurenai-san.' Naruto held up his hand.

Kurenai handed her bento container over and Naruto emptied its remnants of food into a plastic bag just as he had done to his own bento container.

Naruto proceeded to walk over to a nearby plastic trashcan and threw the trash into it and walked back over to their spot near the lake, sitting back down.

'Well, Kurenai-san, this isn't that bad of a way to spend the day isn't it, I mean; free food and even some splashing around in the lake.' Naruto said, smiling.

'Yes, Naruto, it's really nice to be like this.' Kurenai replied, smiling herself.

'And I still haven't given you my cooking tips have I?' Naruto said.

'Oh yeah; you promised me that you'd teach me how to cook.'

'And I won't back down on it; I am a man that never backs down on his words!'

Kurenai smiled at the blonde, who blushed. Naruto had truly never seen Kurenai like this before; smiling and laughing with him. And to think that he had met this woman when he was but a child and she was already a Chuunin.

'So shall we get going, Kurenai-san?' Naruto inquired getting to his feet again.

She gave a nod and they started to pack up their things, not noticing the familiar ninjas that were intently watching them, their eyes lit up in interest.

Naruto and Kurenai stopped in front of Kurenai's home in their usual gear, Kurenai had changed into her black tank top and shorts while Naruto had his shirt and his usual blue undershirt and shorts that went past his knees. Kurenai opened the door and gestured for Naruto come in, which he did.

Naruto headed towards the kitchen and looked around before realising that he was not familiar with the kitchen. It was Kurenai's house, after all.

'Uh, Kurenai-san, where do you keep you utensils?' Naruto asked.

Kurenai set her bag down and entered the kitchen. She slightly smiled as she did. She was looking forward to the "cooking lessons" but somehow, she was reminded of her day with the blonde, not once did he live up to the name of "Konoha's Number One Loudmouth", not once did he brag about his dreams and not once did he try to kiss her. Kurenai blushed at the last thought. Was she expecting a kiss? Half of her mind argued that she did want one, while the other, the part that with good manners and courtesy, said no. She wasn't sure.

Naruto looked puzzedly at Kurenai, who looked as though she was smiling at a memory. She was; the memory of the day that they had spent together.

'Um, Kurenai-san?' Naruto said to her, a slight look of worry etched on his face; Kurenai snapped out of her second trance of the day and blushed, 'Are you okay? You looked like you were smiling off into nothing. Are you thinking of someone?'

'No, of course not, Naruto.' Kurenai said, her heart suddenly feling heavy.

Naruto looked at her once more, an eyebrow raised before asking her where the cooking utensils were located once more. She pointed to a cabinet next to a stove, and said that they were there. Naruto nodded in response and smiled, making the weight in her heart suddenly take off flying.

_That was a lie, I know it;you know it, I know what I think and I know what I want, but is it really right for us to be together, Naruto? _Kurenai thought.

Naruto took out the required utensils and set them next to the stove.

'All right, Kurenai, let's get started with our cooking lesson!' Naruto said energetically; Kurenai shook her head the young man's animation.

'Well, you're not going to cook looking like that.' Kurenai pointed out his attire; Naruto puffed his chest out indignantly and Kurenai giggled, 'Here's an apron.'

Naruto looked to Kurenai, who was pointing to a _pink _apron that read in white, the words "Mother Knows Best". His eyes widened significantly.

'You can't make me.' Naruto said in a tone of mock defiance.

Kurenai decided to play with him for a while; she neared him.

Naruto's eyes widened even more than before when she leaned against him. Naruto's mind went a complete blank, leaving him open to any mental attacks. Kurenai's movements of deception and intrigue could make the illusion created by Uchiha Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan put to shame, for Naruto was not left with an inch of mental resistance or even a final defence, to put it short, Kurenai's act had the blonde ninja under her spell for any single request she would make.

'Naruto-kun, could you please wear that apron; for me?'

A minute later, Uzumaki Naruto was in a pink apron, not knowing how in the world he put on the abomination. Naruto gave an accusing look to Kurenai, who was trying very hard to not laugh or even giggle. She was losing her fight.

'Oh well, let's just start with the cooking lessons.' Naruto slightly grumbled.

'Yes, sensei!' Kurenai gave a mock salute to Naruto, who frowned.

'We're going to start with making seafood bentos, Kurenai-san. You have some fish in your freezer, right?' Naruto looked to Kurenai's fridge.

'Yeah, I do. Let me get it.' Kurenai replied, opening the top door of the fridge.

She took out a fish around a foot in length and handed it to Naruto before closing the freezer door and rubbing her hands together to restore the heat back to them. Naruto took out a large bowl and set the fish into it before filling it with warm water from the tap, trying to defrost the fish before they started cutting.

'May I ask what kind of meal are we making, Naruto?' Kurenai asked.

'We're making some fish cuts and with some spicy soy sauce.' Naruto replied, looking from her back to the fish, which had frost all over it staring to melt.

'It'll melt in about ten minutes, but since I'm going to teach you how to do it the faster and effective way, we'll just do this; Kurenai,' Naruto looked to Kurenai and she gave him her attention, 'Put some chakra to your hands and touch the fish. The chakra will melt the ice and remaining frost on the fish.'

Kurenai did so; focusing the chakra to her ahnds, she touched the fish and in the process of the warm chakra circulating her hands, the frost that remained was gone; Naruto smiled at her achievement. He then took out a cutting board.

'Next, we cut the fish into even and edible pieces.' Naruto explained, motioning his hand to take out a knife but he did not find one; Kurenai smirked.

She pulled out a drawer that revealed an assortment of kitchen knives.

She took out one and handed it over to the blonde, who did not take it.

'You cut the fish; it'll be a good first-hand experience for you.' Naruto said.

'Naruto, I've cut a fish before; you just have to show me some of the recipes that you have in store for me in this lesson.' Kurenai said, smirking.

'I'll only have enough time with you for two recipes, Kurenai-san; and since if you do something you'll learn faster, why don't you cut the fish?'

'Okay, but you better be there to instruct me. I don't want to do anything wrong with this. I _am _after all, going to have to be able to cook for a family.'

Naruto smiled and moved over so that she could start with her work. As Naruto observed Kurenai do her work, he was thinking that she was not that bad of a chef herself, simply by seeing her at work with the knife. Naruto also observed that her skills with her kunai could have much to do with her skills. Naruto suddenly, thanks to the Kyuubi within him, got a mental projection and saw a vision of Kurenai in five years time and what he saw, he found, he liked.

It was as his wife, and she had a large belly, signalling that she was pregnant, wearing a blue dress over a white blouse. And at her feet, tugging at her skirt, were two little girls, one blonde in a pink dress and another one, with her hair much like a little Kurenai, in a yellow dress. Naruto then suddenly looked around; he wasn't in Kurenai's home anymore, but in a different house. For one thing, Kurenai's fridge was not orange in colour and there was a picture of a blonde man with long hair with his arms around Kurenai hung on it by a magnet.

Naruto recognized it as himself and that there was a ring around Kurenai's finger, which had a beautiful sapphire stone on it. He smiled softly.

_Kit, if you wish for all this to happen, you better get a move on; the future will not wait for you, not for one second; and let's not forget about the men that are after this pretty vixen as well, _it was Kyuubi, in his cage, smirking.

'Kyuubi? Oh no, I'm unconscious, aren't I?' Naruto grabbed his hair in panic.

'Yes, you are unconscious, but don't worry about it, kit, I have some advice for you on how to court this fair maiden.' Kyuubi grinned in a fox-like way.

Naruto blushed at Kyuubi's words and started to give the blonde a few words from himself to protest to the demon fox, to no avail, for his throat felt like it was constricted. Unable to talk for the moment, Naruto neared the cage to hear what the gigantic demon fox had for him. He was in no mood to be distracted from his precious time with the woman that he had fallen in love with all those years ago.

'So you will listen to me, then? Good.' Kyuubi neared the edges of the cage, 'You know, kit, that you can't keep being like this with her; females are like that, fox or human. They tend to get impatient when it comes to love, but you're lucky; this certain vixen,' Naruto blushed at the word vixen, 'Is patient and aware of her own feelings for you; that I can sense.' Naruto literally jumped with joy when he heard Kyuubi say that she had feelings for him as well, 'But,'

Naruto slightly drooped at the "But," and listened even more intently.

'She is rejecting those feelings. She cannot except that she has feelings for you. There is an inner conflict within her, kit, so you better be careful with your feelings and hers.' Naruto gave a slight nod, 'You don't want to blurt the three magic words to her out, kit; she'll give in to the negative side of love if you do. You have to make sure that you're close enough to her without hurting her.'

Naruto gave a final nod and Kyuubi walked away to the darkness in his cage.

'Kyuubi, why are you helping me with this?' Naruto questioned.

The demon fox stopped and turned its head around to see Naruto.

'I do rampage, I do destruction and death, but if there's one thing that touches my heart kit, it's the love that you humans seem to have.' Kyuubi replied.

Naruto smiled sincerely at Kyuubi as the demon continued to walk away.

'Well, I guess you really aren't the evil demon that I thought you were.'

'Do not misunderstand me! I just have a soft spot for love! I'm still the Kyuubi no Kitsune that will rip you to shreds the moment I escape from here!'

'Yeah, yeah; see you later, you softy fox!' Naruto teased as Kyuubi growled.

A bright flash of light came and Naruto found himself staring at the ceiling of Kurenai's home. He was on something soft and comfortable and saw that he was on Kurenai's couch. He had a splitting headache. There was always a splitting headache whenever he got up from a meeting with Kyuubi.

'Naruto, are you okay? You fainted in the kitchen just now.'

Kurenai was at his side, her hand on his shoulder; her face etched in worry. Naruto gave a smile to reassure her and attempted to get up, but Kurenai forced him back down with her hand, glaring at him. Naruto looked at her, puzzled.

'Are you sick, Naruto?' Kurenai asked, looking at him and expecting the truth.

'No, I'm not. Now, if you may excuse me, we both have a cooking lesson to finish.' he attempted to get up once more and found that Kurenai was standing in front of him, her hands on her hips and a glare in place.

'You are not going to cook; if you faint I'm not going to have to drag you back here; for a thin guy, you sure are heavy.' Kurenai said, still glaring.

'Kurenai-san, I am not sick; I'm as fit as a fid-' a sneeze chose to escape.

Kurenai glared more at him. Naruto was as fit as fiddle, except that every time after his visit to Kyuubi was over, he would get a headache due to the red chakra of the demon seeping out and intermixing with his own and since it was in his mind, he would get the occasional headache from the intermix that occurred.

'At least let me check your temperature.' Kurenai put a hand to Naruto's forehead and felt that there was no abnormal amount of heat in it.

Naruto, meanwhile, was thinking around different lines, like how cool and soft Kurenai's touchw as when it was upon his skin. Lucky for him, she did not notice the blush that crept upon his face. She withdrew her hand.

'Alright, you're not sick, but it's already in the evening. Unless you have any plans with anyone tonight, why don't you stay for some dinner with me? I was thinking we should go to Ichiraku or something like that. You know, to repay you for a good day, even though, you did faint halfway through it.'

Naruto blushed, but with the promise of ramen, he almost immediately got rid of the blush and got back to his old ramen-loving self in an instant.

Outside, Hatake Kakashi and Jiraiya watched intently at the progress made.

* * *

Naruto, surprisingly, only ate two bowls of ramen rather than his usual twelve at the ramen stand, to much of the owner's and his daughter's disappointment.

Naruto was somehow, slightly more mature than Kurenai would have thought he'd be after all the words that she had heard about him from the people about his immaturity and attitude. But the way that Kurenai saw it now, it was like all those things that the people had said never existed. Uzumaki Naruto, now, to her, at least, was a man. Caring, friendly and… lonely.

Kurenai had never, in all her life, seen Naruto act lonely or afraid, but she knew that the loneliness was there, somehow, when he fainted, it showed itself clearly on his face; the sorrow that he ahd gone through since he was born.

'Kurenai-san, that was a rather fulfilling meal, don't you think?' Naruto said.

'I'm still surprised that you only ate two bowls. After all the times that I hung out with Iruka and Kakashi and Asuma, they said that you could find a stock of ramen in your stomach that could feed all the people of Konoha.'

Naruto scowled and Kurenai gave the blonde a joking smile.

'Hey, I haven't heard seen Kiba, Shino or Hinata for the past few days.'

Naruto's puzzled look made Kurenai almost giggle; whenever the blonde pouted or look puzzled, it was just too adorable to resist. Naruto turned to Kurenai.

'If you're so curious about what's going on with them; Kiba has been out with the flu lately. Shino is attending one of his Uncle's weddings and he won't be back until the end of next week. Hinata is off with her father and sister for training.'

'Oh.' that was Naruto's simple reply as he put his hands in his pockets.

They proceeded to walk for a while until Naruto bumped into someone.

'Sorry.' Naruto aplogized, before realizing that the person that he had bumped into was Kakashi, wearing his Jounin uniform and had a package under his arm.

'Hello there, Naruto.' Kakashi greeted, raising a hand in greeting to him and then spied to Kurenai at his side and greeted her as well, 'Kurenai-san.'

'Good evening Kakashi.' Kurenai greeted curtly, the incident of the day before still played in her mind; she was still angry at his accusation of her being in love.

Kurenai knew for herself that she was; she was just in denial.

Kurenai was never one to admit to love at first sight. She only believed in two things as a kunoichi; beauty and charms equals a successful mission if utilized properly and to not possess a heart that easily showed emotions. She was good at fulfilling the first part of her belief, but the second one was almost impossible to execute. Kurenai was not an emotional person, but she did have a mind to actually act out how she felt. If she was angry, she would hit someone. If she was annoyed, she would glare at them. But if she was in love, she would not admit it.

Love, to her, was a simple pleasure. To her, love spawned from admiration, a feeling of looking up to and be charmed by it for whatever reasons. Love also spawned from friendship as Iruka and Anko discovered. Sometimes love was even spawned from fear, unil recently; Kurenai knew that it could never be spawned from fear from a lesson by her good friend Mitarashi Anko. Fear only spawns lust, which hurts other people after its temporary rise.

'So Kakashi-sensei, did you enjoy being at the big picnic?'

'Yes; as a matter of fact I did, Naruto.' Kakashi replied, before getting close to Naruto and began whispering into his ear, 'Iruka probably won't be able to face Anko again without experiencing "junior" after what I said about her.'

Naruto blushed very slightly and Kurenai was left puzzled as she did not have a clue about what Kakashi had told Naruto other than the blush on Naruto's face.

At the picnic, Kakashi had started to tease Iruka about his relationship with Anko as they spied, along with the many people at the picnic, on Naruto and Kurenai. In the process, Kakashi whispered several naughty things to Iruka. Kakashi's perverted thoughts were only second to Jiraiya's and Iruka was more or less an innocent and friendly person that was still a virgin. If someone were to add those two up, they would most likely get a bloody mess and a twitching Iruka. That was, after all, the result that Kakashi expected from his actions.

'What's that you got under your arm, Kakashi-sensei?' Naruto asked.

'Oh, this?' Kakashi drew out the foot-long package, 'It's a package that I have to deliver to Hokage-sama from Jiraiya-sama since he's away on a trip again.'

'Oh, what's inside?' Naruto inquired, peering at the wrapped package.

'I think that it's some special sake. I have a good nose you know.'

_If only you would stick it in other places other than people's business…_

'Oh, and Jiraiya-sama said that he's looking forward to the raw copy of your book, whatever that means.' Kakashi finished; Naruto's eyes widened.

'You're writing a book, Naruto?' Kurenai asked the blonde.

'Uh…' Naruto did not know what to say, 'Yeah; a romance novel…'

'A romance novel?' Kurenai pressed on further, 'What kind of romance novel?'

_A romance novel that rivals Icha Icha Paradise in power, _Naruto thought.

But of course, Naruto did not want to reveal that to Kurenai, for fear of getting kicked and beaten up. Naruto had learned that even though that the men were seemingly the dominant sex, the women would somehow and often always beat them to a pulp, no matter what. It was a confusing theory, seeing as how the previous Hokage's were men. Naruto wondered if they had their wives or women beating them up while they were on duty. They probably did.

'If I told you know, it would ruin the surprise for the readers now, won't it?'

* * *

For three weeks, Uzumaki Naruto and Yuuhi Kurenai were friends, going out with each other at times and talking about the times that passed. Naruto was very close with Kurenai, making the woman quite uncomfortable about her feelings for the sixteen-year old. They could be seen in the Shopping District in Konoha drinking some cups of coffee and sometimes stayed at each other's homes when they were too tired to return to their own. Naruto did not mind this at all.

In the two weeks, many other people, other than Naruto and Kurenai, were getting together. Umino Iruka was finally admitting his feelings to Anko and even though they had gone out before, they were much closer now and could be seen in public kissing, hugging and they were once even found necking outside Ichiraku Ramen. Inuzuka Kiba was finally cured of his cold and at long last, admitted his feelings to a certain Hokage's Assistant that he liked her.

They were the surprise couple, But Kiba had admitted that he had fallen for her ever since the time his Anbu Squadron returned from their mission bruised and battered to be healed by her warm hands. She accepted his feelings and they started dating, even though Shizune could have sworn that Tsume, Kiba's sister, looked like she would gut her the moment she touched her brother in the wrong way. Things were turning up great for Gai's Team as well, for Tenten anyway.

Ikegata Tenten was asked by her long-time crush, Gaara, to be his fiancée the night he admitted his feelings for her. Naruto was personally present, along with Neji, Lee and a very reluctant Shino to watch them kiss under the moonlight.

The wedding of the two ninjas was to be at the end of November.

Rock Lee, through several attempts, finally got Sakura to be his girlfriend when he shaved his eyebrows and re-styled his hair to look like Naruto's old hairstyle. Sakura was not really after Lee's looks, it just annoyed her whenever the two caterpillar-like _things_ on Lee's head were near her.

Hinata, who had a long-time crush with Naruto, got over him and held him as a close friend to her heart (Kurenai was swept with relief). Shino asked her out the day after and the couple was once seen making out in the middle of the Hyuuga Estates. Neji had the stinking feeling that his Uncle, Hyuuga Hiashi, was already starting to take out the money from the back and prepare a wedding ceremony.

Shikamaru, Jounin Instructor to the new Team Seven, which consisted of Udon, Hanabi and Chouji's young cousin, Ikkaku, who looked a lot like Chouji except that he was a brunette, was starting to date Ino, who, after finding out that Shikamaru liked her back, screamed for joy the moment he said to her how much he liked her, even with all her bravado and mouth.

Kakashi and Gai had gotten themselves their own women. Kakashi had met his old teammate Rin again and they started dating. Gai, however, had a very hard time finding a girl that could counter-balance his personality.He was seen with an unknown red-headed girl that had an attitude very much like Tsunade's.

Kakashi and his Jounin peers shivered at trhe thought of their children.

Neji was still single, although he did have quite a few admirers among the female population of Konoha. Jiraiya was still publishing his books and Tsunade was still Godaime Hokage of the village, although she had grown slightly more peeved at Jiraiya's perverseness after putting up with him for so long.

But throughout the village, like wildfire, people were talking about Yuuhi Kurenai and Uzumaki Naruto, the couple that will be.

It was already night time in Konoha and the people of the village could be seen in the busy streets. It was, after all, a festival. In one corner, under a cherry blossom tree was Uzumaki naruto, his hair tied up in a ponytail that reached down to his waist. He was waiting for his "friend" Kurenai, who was supposedly about to show around fifteen minutes ago. The blonde straightened the sleeves of his white and blue yutaka and then looked to the people that were around him.

He could see Sakura and Lee eating some cotton candy; Sakura in her pink kimono and Lee in his light-purple yutaka. Shino and Hinata were sitting on a bench, Hinata had a goldfish in a plastic bag sitting on the lap of her golden kimono while Shino was in a grey male kimono. Shizune and Kiba were under a cherry blossom tree kissing each other with passion. Naruto grinned as he watched them under his own cherry blossom tree. Gai and Kakashi were with their girlfriends near a dango stall, along with Iruka and Anko, who was holding three sticks of dango. Naruto smiled as he looked around once more.

'Naruto.' a familiar voice to Naruto called out to him.

Naruto turned in the direction of the sound and that Kurenai was there in a light-blue kimono and a long sash around her elbows. Her hair was straightened slightly, making her seem to Naruto more beautiful than ever.

'Sorry that I was late.' she smiled to him.

'Don't worry about it, you're worth the wait.' Naruto charmed.

Naruto held out his hand and people watched the unofficial couple go around, eating some dango that they recently bought and talk with their friends. All the while, Kurenai did not notice that Naruto was staring at her the whole time.

It was now almost midnight, and the streets of Konoha and its parks were still full of people celebrating the festival and happily holding their loved ones in their arms. Naruto wished that he could hold the one _he _loved in his arms.

The unofficial couple got away from the bustling streets and packed parks of Konoha to be alone. In her heart Kurenai wiashed it to be.

Naruto and Kurenai were walking up a path; they did not know why, but something seemed to attract them here. They reached their destination and saw that it was the same tree that had cuased their paths to cross.

The same tree that Naruto had caught Yuuhi Kurenai from falling out of.

'Remember that day we met here, Kurenai-san?' Naruto asked, smiling.

'Yes, I do.' Kurenai smiled back at the young man, 'You thought that I was an angel that dropped out of the sky, if you do remember.'

Over the past few weeks Kurenai had finally confronted her fears of love and care for the blonde teenager, not knowing what rto do at that time. But this was her chance to finally tell him. Right here, right now. She knew that he loved her back, but he was just being polite and making sure that she was comfortable.

Kurenai had questioned herself over and over again? Was this love? Yes.

'Kurenai…' Naruto turned to look at Kurenai and she looked back at him.

'Yes, Naruto?' her red eyes captivated him, putting him into a trance.

Naruto did not say anything. Kurenai gazed into his wonderfully blue and impossible eyes once again, but this time, she was not lost. She knew where his heart was and where his soul resided. His heart was joined with hers and his soul was their will to go on with their love. To Naruto's surprise, Kurenai started first.

'Uzumaki Naruto,' Kurenai began, smiling at him, 'You were the person that I never thought would have made his way through my heart. You, by my eyes when we first met, were the furthest one from it. But now, I know better. This is not my heart anymore, it's _our _heart.' Kurenai gazed deeper, putting her two hands into his, 'Thanks to you I now have the bravery to say this; I love you.'

Naruto gazed back into Kurenai's two red orbs and smiled.

Kyuubi was heard sniffing into a tissue inside Naruto's mid.

'Yuuhi Kurenai, there is no one that I would rather share my love with other than you.' Naruto said, smiling at the brunette.

As time passed, Naruto and Kurenai's heads drew closer until their lips met under the moonlight, warmth was radiated throughout their bodies.

And in the background, people were cheering…

Wait, people…!

Almost all the Rookie Nine, Gai's Team, their former Jounin Instructors, the Hokage, Shizune and Jiraiya and the soulmates of Kakashi and Gai were there, coming out of the bushes, clapping and whistling at the newly-formed couple. Even Iruka and Anko were there; Iruka crying into Anko's shoulder in happiness. Tsunade was caught up in her emotions as well, blowing her nose into a handkerchief Jiraiya handed her. Naruto stared in bewilderment at the mass of people in the area. His pet fox, Sai came to Naruto and started yipping from his feet to encourage another kiss. Naruto obliged.

Under the moonlight, once more, Naruto's and Kurenai's lips met.

* * *

antiassasinguy: there's still the third part to come tomorrow! Stay tuned! Thanks to One Azn Dragon and crazy-antman for the encouragement. The next chapter will feature two years from this event; much like an epilogue. Thank you once again, and if anyone has thesong "Still Time" from Saiyuki, could they please e-mail it to me? antiassasinguy out! 


	3. Part Three: The Rest Of Our Lives

A/N: The final part of The Way I Want You Tonight! Thank you for supporting me through thick and thin! This chapter is inspired by My Big Fat Greek Wedding; the best romantic comedy in history! This chapter is only Four-K's long.

**The Way I Want You Tonight**

**Part Three: The Rest of Our Lives**

Konoha was bustling with activity, as always. The merchants and restaurant workers were busily taking requests, the ninjas on vacation were spending their time being with their loved ones or wasting their time under the shade of trees or their beds and drinking in their favourite pub. Most of the kunoichis, however, from that group of ninjas were located in a rather fancy mansion. The mansion was the home of one certain Rokudaime Hokage of six months.

It was the home of the recently instated Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto and currently, it was being used by the majority of kunoichis to prepare a certain Yuuhi Kurenai for the Hokage's wedding. But there was a slight problem with the preparations. The problem was that the bride, Kurenai, was not up yet.

Up a large spiral staircase was a rather large corridor that held many doors on its side. The corridors were currently filled with females, all of them ninjas except for one certain middle-aged woman that went by the name of Yuuhi Yoriko, Kurenai's mother. She literally jumped with joy knowing that her daughter was finally to be wed, but when she heard about the young Hokage being her man, she literally screamed in happiness and put her daughter in a hug that would make Tsunade jealous. Of course, there was a slight feeling of disbelief with it.

Currently, the kunoichis were banging on a certain door that held the bride.

'Yuuhi Kurenai, it's your wedding day, get up!' Anko banged on the door.

'Come on, Kurenai, wake up!' Yoriko banged on the door after Anko.

'Stand back.' Sakura approached the door, breathed in and out and slammed her fist against it, shattering the door into many tiny splinters and chips of wood.

Kurenai was there as the women entered the sanctuary that was her place of relaxation. She was desperately trying to get some sleep in her four-poster bed until a certain mother of hers came in and shook her to wake.

'Kurenai, are you going to disappoint your future husband by not going to the wedding?' Kurenai's mother questioned; the relatively young woman looked at her droopily; the kunoichis around her stared intently at Kurenai.

'Mother, what are you doing?' Kurenai slowly yawned, 'It's only…'

'Four hours to the wedding.' her mother finished for her as Kurenai smiled.

Then, her eyes widened as she looked to the clock on the wall and looked to the many females around her. She rushed out of the bed.

'Oh my God, is it really that late!' Kurenai exclaimed, running out the hallway.

'Finally, she grasps the truth that she's late.' Yoriko said.

Kurenai ran over to her dressing room with the girls that were her friends in tow, following her. They were in a big room, where many dresses for the bridesmaids, all of which were blue and went down to reach their knees, white high-heels and make-up were set, all of them lined up and ready for use.

There were even several sashes and bows hung on a rack.

Suddenly, the red-eyed woman was ushered to a seat near a mirror

Kurenai sat down on a soft chair by force, thanks to her mother, Anko, Sakura, Hinata and Kiba's sister, Tsume. All around her, Kurenai could see that the women were getting ready, putting their make-up on.

'We're going to give you a bridal shower, so you better get ready.'

Kurenai was immediately dragged away by her comrades and into a five-star bathroom, where they started to strip her down and put her into a bath that had started to be filled with skin cleansers that had a faint mixed scent of lemon and strawberries. Kurenai chuckled to herself as she felt her hair washed and wetted herself. Anko was sitting behind her, washing her hair with a special shampoo that her mother had bought from an herbal specialist the day before. Kurenai did not know what was so special about it, but her mother had said that it will keep your man from running off or leaving you for dangerous missions of the sort.

'Kurenai, help me here! There's only four hours left you know?' Anko said.

Kurenai started to wash herself with a bar of soap even faster. Thirty minutes passed and Kurenai's mother barged in with a set of brand new undergarments in an opened blue package. Kurenai got out of the bath and Anko drained it.

'Here, Kurenai, put these on after you dry yourself!' her mother ordered.

Kurenai draped herself in a towel as several more of her fellow kunoichi ushered her out of a room and into another room down the hallway.

It was amazing how women could do things in an instant when it really mattered in the world of fashion and beauty. Kurenai was stripped of her towel and was put on her undergarments in under ten seconds, however, a four second window that saw her completely naked would have give Uzumaki Naruto the nosebleed of his life. But he wasn't there, thank God.

Kurenai was shoved into another chair and the women who were known as the deadliest in Konoha, led by the former Hokage, Tsunade-sama, was at the forefront of performing the most delicate and sophisticated methods of beauty.

She was no beginner at this; that was for sure. Why? Because after her stint as Hokage of Konoha, the aggressive woman made herself a beauty parlour for all women to come and regenerate or persevere the beauty that they were.

She had already ninety-five percent of her debts paid off thanks to it.

So now, before the bride-to-be was the Greatest Beauty Specialist that Konoha had ever known, clad in a white robe and wearing white gloves. Over her mouth and nose was a facemask. At her side, on a table was an assortment of make-up tools from tweezers to lip moisturizers to what looked like a powder puff.

'Yuuhi Kurenai, when we are done with you, Naruto will be the happiest man alive.' Tsunade said, massaging her wrists as several more girls came up to her.

Even though she did not show it, Kurenai was extremely uneasy with all this.

* * *

Hell, who wouldn't be? Her thoughts drifted to a certain blonde Hokage.

Naruto was not someone that you would call a coward. He had many deeds to prove that he was as brave as a lion. There was when he fought Orochimaru in the forest during his first Chuunin Examination when his other team-mates were still in shock from the snake-man's awesome power. There was when he faced Gaara for the first time in the forest on the outskirts of the village around that period as well. There was when he fought Yakushi Kabuto in an effort to defend the then-wanderer Tsunade and defeated him with a well-placed Rasengan.

You would think that their Hokage was a brave man. He was; except that could not explain why the blonde storm of a Rokudaime had locked himself within the room that guarded the Scroll of Forbidden Seals. There were several seals placed on the door leading in so that not a single person could get in.

Outside the door, in the hallway, was a very peeved Jiraiya, an extremely frustrated Hyuuga Neji and a disappointed Iruka. Jiraiya was peeved that his student was the one who had arranged the wedding and yet he was a coward from going on with it. Hyuuga Neji was frustrated because of the fact that they many times he had tried to convince the Hokage to come out, he retorted back with a very good comeback. For example, Neji had started to rant about fate that Naruto was fated to be a coward. Naruto came back saying that Neji was destined to be a homosexual with his girly looks. Iruka was disappointed because his "little brother" was being not the Hokage, but the same childish boy of twelve again.

'Damn it, the wedding can't go on without the Groom.' Jiraiya said.

'What are we going to do, Jiraiya-sama? Naruto's too stubborn to give in.' Iruka cast a look at the door before grimacing rather comically, 'That, and he's scared.'

'I heard that!' Naruto shouted from the other side of the door.

'Uzumaki Naruto if you do not open the door this instant do you know what will happen?' Neji tried a different approach, hopefully, it would work.

'No, what?" Naruto said sarcastically from his shelter that was the dark room.

'Well, since I am your Best Man, guess who I'm going to end up in bed with because of your absence?' Neji tried to make the Uzumaki jealous, it almost always worked; sure enough, he heard a shift in the room, 'Why don't you just stay in there, Naruto? Let me march off to the ceremony say that you are not going to go through with the wedding. Then _I_, the one you say will go through life accused of being a homosexual, will be spending my time in your place in Tea Country on a honeymoon thanks to your cowardice.' Neji felt a twitch in the room and another shift in movement, 'And then the nights in the hotel room…'

The door burst and turned into tiny pieces, the odd number of splinters hanging from the hinges of the doorframe. Inside, as though he was consumed by darkness, was their very own Hokage, emitting an extremely powerful killing intent. It was enough to send a chill up Jiraiya's spine.

'Neji, if you finish your sentence, I promise you that Sakura's hits will pale in comparison to what I will do to you.' Naruto's voice could scare even Morino Ibiki.

Neji had only joked the honeymoon, but that did not stop the Hyuuga from taking the threat of the Rokudaime Hokage seriously. He swallowed.

In that instant, Jiraiya seized the opportunity to take Naruto to the place where he would get himself ready for his wedding; The Hyuuga Household. Hyuuga Hiashi was kind enough to let the Hokage and his friends get dressed for the wedding there, but Naruto was not there yet. He was still in the Administration Building and at the moment, releasing an extremely powerful killing intent.

It was after Jiraiya put him in the bind of a chakra-enforced rope did Rokudaime Hokage Uzumaki Naruto realize his mistake of leaving the room.

'Ero-sennin, release me this instant!' Naruto called out, to no avail.

'Iruka, it seems that our Hokage is using his chakra to stick to his spot, would you please be so kind enough to reverse the process for me?' Jiraiya asked.

Iruka looked to a serious-looking Jiraiya to an extremely deadly Naruto. He sighed as he neared Naruto, who was glaring at the Chuunin and released the flow of chakra from his feet, allowing Jiraiya to take him away.

'Naruto, this is for your own good, you know.' Jiraiya said.

Naruto was currently being dragged by the Sannin through the streets of Konoha by the rope. It was almost useless to struggle any longer for the blonde Hokage; the ropes were made of the same material that Jiraiya had trained him with years ago. He vaguely remembered a prank that he pulled with the ropes on Jiraiya while he was still the mischievous boy in his early days of adolescence.

Through the streets of Konoha, the people were giving the Hokage and histeacher very puzzled and amused looks as they had never seen a Hokage being dragged by another person. An exception to this was the late Sandaime, who was dragged by two Anbus to his own wedding.

They had a very fleeting moment of déjà vu on their minds at the moment.

'Ero-sennin, you can untie me now.' Naruto said, halfway through the dragging.

'How do I know that you won't run away?' Jiraiya questioned, stopping.

'I don't go back on my words; that's my Nindo.' Naruto said.

Jiraiya proceeded to untie his student, who immediately hit him on the head.

'That was for dragging me like a bag!' Naruto said calmly as Jiraiya glared.

They continued to walk to the Hyuuga Household. Hiashi was at the entrance, already in his white tuxedo with Shino in a black one. Naruto greeted them.

'What took you two so long? Everyone's practically dressed.' Shino said.

'Our _Hokage _here chickened out at the last second. If it weren't for your nephew, Neji, Hiashi, the wedding would've turned into chaos.' Jiraiya said.

'You almost _"chickened out" _Hokage-sama?' Hiashi raised an eyebrow.

Naruto said nothing; the only indication to his response was a red face as Jiraiya gave a superior smirk to the Rokudaime, only to receive another glare.

'Well then, Naruto, you better get dressed and ready for your wedding.' Shino looked to his black wristwatch and smirked, 'You only have two-and-a-half hours.'

Jiraiya grabbed his student by the collar and dragged himinside the Hyuuga Estates. At the same time, Iruka and Neji chose to make their appearance, along with Kiba and Akamaru. Naruto gave one last look before the white-haired Sannin, other wise known to Naruto affectionately as "Ero-sennin" dragged his student along the corridors and He entered a room in the household that was reserved for the Hokage to get dressed. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw his suit.

'I get to wear that?' Naruto stared at the black suit before him.

It looked like a long black robe with a white long-sleeved shirt inside it and a pair of black pants that came with it. Under the black robe was what looked like a black vest made out of silk. And to Naruto's delight, no bow was in sight.

'It's the traditional suit style that the male Hokage's wear when they get married. The Inuzuka kid had one tailor-made for your tastes.' Jiraiya said.

'I'll have to thank Kiba later.' Naruto felt the fabric on his suit.

Naruto then proceeded to ushed Jiraiya out of the room just so his perverted eyes did not get any "inspiration" when he was changing. Naruto dressed in a flash and was about to exit the room when the door burst open and several old ladies came in, several kits of make up in their hands.

'These ladies will take care of your looks for the wedding, Naruto.'

The author of Icha Icha Paradise could be heard sniggering sadistically at Naruto's misfortune of experiencing ragging first-hand at the women.

Then the author of the books remembered the same thing had happened to him when he got married to his late wife several years before; he shivered instead.

* * *

The past one-hour-and-a-half were one of the worst that the Rokudaime Hokage had experienced in all his life. Who could have known that three very innocent elderly women could get so rough in making him look good. It was nothing short of a torture session with eight Morino Ibikis and an Anko with kunais.

Naruto shivered at the thought. Would his son, assuming that he had one, have to go through this as well in the future? Naruto decided there and then that his son would have to go through with the pain at the hands of elderly women.

After all, it would be a good experience for him for future trials.

Back to the present; Naruto was outside in the gardens that stood in the Hyuuga Household, wearing his long black robe that was draped around his shoulders. He was thinking about the future; what would lie in wait for them there? He was slightly scared. Altight, that was an understatement; he was practically fearful of his wedding. There were three reasons.

Reason one: he was the first out of the Konoha Rookie Nine to get married; reason two: he had never experienced love with any other person and was relatively scared if he would hurt Kurenai; reason three: with his duties as Hokage, would he be able to support his family at the same time?

Naruto swallowed, not noticing Kiba and Lee approach him from behind.

'You nervous, Naruto?' Kiba asked, putting his hand on the Hokage's shoulder.

'I'd be lying if I said no.' Naruto said, showing them a sincere smile.

He then raised an eyebrow at Lee's suit; it was still the same as his other favourite clothes; green, while Kiba was dressed in a black tuxedo that was reaching down to the back of his knees. Naruto had to hand it to Kiba; he had very good taste in style when it came to clothes.

'Naruto-kun, the ceremony will begin in one hour, let us rush if you do not want to be late for your own wedding!' Lee exclaimed, getting into an outrageous pose.

'Lee, get your two feet back on the ground before I burn your eyebrows.' Naruto virtually ordered, the tone of a Hokage in his voice.

Lee followed the command and got back up standing like a normal human being once again. Jiraiya and Hiashi then came into view, in their matching white tuxedoes. Naruto raised an eyebrow at this before he shook it off.

'Hokage-sama, I think that we should leave now. The ceremony is going to start in less than and hour. I assume that you would not want to be late for your own wedding?' Hiashi inquired; Naruto gave a shaking head as his response.

The group of ninjas then perform several handseals and disappeared in a puff of smoke, reappearing in a garden full of cherry blossom trees and fitted with several garden chairs and an altar, where Naruto was to stand with Kurenai.

Naruto gulped as he watched the man who were to wed them, fittingly, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen, who had a license to marry people. He walked up to Naruto gave and Naruto shook his hand in greeting and gave a smile.

'So are you nervous about your own wedding, Rokudaime-sama?' Mr. Ichiraku asked the blonde Hokage, who looked undecided with nodding his head or shaking it as a response, 'Hey, don't worry about it; marriage is a wonderful thing, especially since your bride is one of the most beautiful women around.'

Naruto felt a slight blush coming up his face; it was true.

'Well, I have to prepare myself for the wedding; don't want to be at the Hokage's wedding all unprepared and messed up now, do we?'

Mr. Ichiraku laughed to himself before walking away from the Hokage. After several minutes passed by, a flurry of guests came to the reception. Neji was the Best Man to the Hokage, so he was the first to arrive and took his place next to Naruto, standing on the altar as an outdoor piano is placed next to the altar, where the resident piano-playing genius, Shizune was, flexing her hands. Next to her on the grass were Naruto's pet fox, Sai and Akamaru, Kiba's dog.

Naruto stood tense for several minutes, Neji was next to him, worried if his friend would run away from the altar. Jiraiya was sitting on one side of the guests seats, watching his second student stand at the altar with pride and happiness.

Chouji was sitting next to Gaara and Tenten, Tenten had her hand on her stomach, obviously, she was pregnant with a child. That could possibly (Naruto mused) mean that Gaara could only gain more lines under his eyes.

Suddenly, after the tense moments had passed, all the guests had arrived, the music from the outdoor piano started to play. At the other end of the stone path before the altar, was Yuuhi Kurenai in a long white wedding dress that looked quite simple except for the fact that therewas white robe over it that was at least two metres in length, held by Hanabi and Moegi. Behind her came the many bridesmaids and Kurenai's Maid of Honor, Hinata. As she neared the altar, Naruto felt as though he was warm, as though he was happy. He was.

It was his wedding day to his first love, the woman who he had met as a child, healing his forehead wound when they met. The same woman that kept him warm after they admitted their shared feelings on the night of the festival.

As Kurenai took her place beside Naruto, Mr. Ichiraku began saying his words to unite the couple. Above them, the sun shone brightly, as if agreeing to their union. In the many guests, Iruka was seen crying into a twitching Kakashi's shoulder, Tsunade was blowing her nose into a handkerchief Jiraiya had handed her and Gai and Lee were kept silent by Sakura's silencing Jutsu.

At the end of his words, Mr. Ichiraku looked from Naruto to Kurenai.

'You may kiss the bride.' Mr. Ichiraku said, beaming at them.

Naruto lifted the veil before Kurenai and she looked into his eyes, blushing.

'You're beautiful…' Naruto said to her, no other words able to compete.

Kurenai gave him a genuine smile before their lips met. Hinata smiled at the couple before noticing that the emotionless Hyuuga Neji was blowing his nose into a handkerchief, tears coming out of his eyes. Neji looked to his cousin, who gave him a knowing smirk. Hyuuga Hiashi, sitting with the other guests wondered when did his nephew become so emotional and when did his daughter develop the Neji-like smirk. He left his questions for later. Now, they were celebrating the wedding of Rokudaime Hokage Uzumaki Naruto to Yuuhi Kurenai.

As the couple finished their long kiss, they joined in with the celebration, and after the drinks were finished, the food was devoured and even Hyuuga Neji and Aburame Shino were drunk, Neji somehow had found his way to Ichiraku Ayame's lap and used it as a pillow, leaving a very red Ichiraku Ramen waitress. Shikamaru found himself the person to drag back Shino to his home, much to his dismay. Chouji had to go to the hospital because he ate too much and Anko and Iruka, as well as Shizune and Kiba, were discovered making out in places.

As for the newlyweds, they had left for their honeymoon in Tea Country.

* * *

InKonoha, the rain had stopped. Yuuhi Kurenai was stirring from her sleep in her very large bed. To her left, were two figures of little girls, one blonde and one brunette, sleeping peacefully. They were such angels when they were not awake. Well, the blonde was more of a chore than the brunette, but that was probably one of the traits that she had picked up from her father.

It had been six years since Yuuhi Kurenai's marriage to Naruto. Currently, the blonde Hokage was in the study, signing what th bane of the Hokage's existence was; paperwork. She giggled to herself as she thought of her husband, how they had met, how they had fallen in love and how they had ended up here.

She smiled at the two little girls; her children; _their _children. She remembered the joy on his face when she said that she was pregnant. His face was full of joy and happiness. She remembered when he played with her stomach when it started to grow, containing the twin girls. And every time he did, he was happy.

And the delivery; oh, how she remembered being the only person to toss the Rokudaime Hokage Uzumaki Naruto through a window and down to the ground below. People must have thought of her as intimidating when she was giving birth. Their Hokage being defeated so easily; it was quite a sight!

But when Naruto came back up, with a broken wrist and a bloody forehead, he was greeted with the sight of his two daughters, Uzumaki Yukiko and Uzumaki Inoue. Yukiko proved to be a female version of her father, active and animated, while Inoue was just like her mother, calm and cool. But their father's genes did not seem as though they were going to stay away from her long. She had recently developed a liking to ramen. Today, she had devoured four bowls.

Kurenai put on a red bathrobe and went downstairs to the study, where her husband was, reading several mission reports and giving his official signature.

'Doing your reports again, I see.' Kurenai stood in the doorway, smiling.

'Yeah, with those two asleep I can finally finish them.' Naruto looked up to her, smiling as well, 'So, how did you get them to fall asleep so quickly?'

'I told them the story of how we fell in love.'

'And did they enjoy it?'

'Yup. Especially the way we kissed under that tree.' Kurenai sat on the edge of his desk, 'Are you really going to do all that by yourself?'

She indicated the pile of paper on his desk; Naruto grimaced.

'The bane of the Hokage's existence. If I don't put up with it, I go down.'

She smiled knowingly and, to his surprise, removed the paper from his desk.

Naruto looked to his wife, who was now smiling evilly at him.

'Kurenai-dear, I don't think that there'll be time for that…' Naruto tried.

'Oh, yes, you do. You are not going back on your words, are you? You said that you'd love me forever on our wedding night.' Kurenai teased.

Naruto reasoned; Nindo versus Job. It finished with Nindo being victorious.

'You know, Kurenai-chan, if there's one thing about you I love, it's this.'

'And what's that?' Kurenai questioned, her arms around his neck.

'You take all my worries away.' Naruto said sincerely.

Kurenai smiled at him and their lips met. And Naruto's thoughts went as far back as he could remember, and he saw the day that he fell in love with this woman. In the cold rain where she turned into the warmth in his heart. And then the days that passed as he began to fall in love with her. To Uzumaki Naruto, it wasn't Fate that brought them together, but their hearts.

'I love you.' Kurenai whispered to Naruto.

Naruto smiled; yes, it was their hearts that brought them together.

**THE END**

antiassasinguy: EL FIN! Thank you for supporting me throughout my fic. Thanks the people who made reviews . I will now continue with my other fics, OKAY! Ensngre, thx for being there for me! One Azn Dragon, you are so kind! crazy-antman, your laugh makes my day! Arigato and good luck with your fics!


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